Retief, Piet (1780-1838), was a South African Boer leader. In 1837, he published a manifesto (public declaration of policy) in the Grahamstown Journal. It listed the grievances of the Boers (Dutch farmers, later known as Afrikaners) and explained why they were leaving the Cape Colony forever on a trek northward (see Great Trek ).
Pieter Retief was born in the Cape Colony. He had little formal education. Originally a wealthy landowner, he was later plagued by debt and worked as a baker, miller, merchant, lumber contractor, and farmer. During a brief period as “governor” of the emigrant Afrikaners beyond the Cape Colony’s borders, Retief led a party of Afrikaner families and their servants across the Drakensberg Mountains into Natal. In 1837 and 1838, Retief tried to negotiate with Dingane, the Zulu king, for a grant of land. Dingane feared Afrikaner invasion and executed Retief and his men on Feb. 6, 1838.
